Harry Potter & The Dark Tower
Well I and others have noticed that both series is hugely popular with sales in the millions around the world. Both also have hardcore fans as well as having movies being made out of them. But lastly they have seven books in their series. But over all which is the better of the two series? I for one have read both and will now compare the two . I will compare based on setting, characters, plot, and flow. I will do them both with each book in order. There will be spoiler ahead. Let us start...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Plot
Harry Potter
The Dark Tower
The plot is about a man trying to get to the Dark Tower to stop all of reality from being destroyed.
From this point you can see that saving all of reality (including the Harry Potter one) is far more important.
Tower -1, Potter –0
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Setting
Harry Potter
While there are a lot of places that are visited in the Potter series most of the time is spent in Hogwarts, the school of the main characters. All other places are side step to the hub point that is Hogwarts. While these areas are interesting that are normally a place of sadness of one thing or others. But they have important roles in moving the plot forward and are deep in the history of the back story.
The Dark Tower
The main characters are always traveling and as such the places are always changing. Starting from a desert to a forest, cave, battlefield, ocean, all in the first book. These areas are really nothing more then passing zones and never really have their own backstory. While the environments are always put into great detail they never really have much use others then being a place holder.
Tower-1, Potter -1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Characters
Harry Potter
- Harry Potter – Starting out he is unknowing of the world that he belongs. As the years pass he becomes a wizard and through his adventures he becomes your average hero that rises from nothing.
- Ron Weasley – A poor kid that becomes friends with Harry and as such he helps him learn about the world of wizardry. Thanks to Harry he becomes more open and gains the courage that follows.
- Hermione Granger - A loner bookworm with no friend in the beginning. Being half-blooded she is picked on and as a result she studies to prove her worth. As the sotry goes she becomes more open and is the only of the three to finish her 7th year of school. As far as female characters go he goes into a more modest development unlike most females that are based on their looks. I have read that she was based off of how Rowling saw herself at age.
- Voldemort – An evil wizard that wants to take over the world. The story of Voldemort is more flushed out then the Crimson King is. We learn about his rise to power and what he was like before he became the dark lord. I a true story we get what makes him work and what goals he is going for , and why.
The Dark Tower
- Roland Deschain - The main character of the series. Roland is the last of an order of law bringers called, Gunslingers. Loosing the love of his life at 14, he is cold and calculating. Through his travels he has sacerficed many things and has learned that nothing is more important then the tower. Until he meets hes new friends does he understand that there is more then the worlds at stake.
- Eddy Dean - A heroin addict form New York of 1987. Dean is pulled from his time to help Roland in his adventure to the tower. Eddie starts out as a selfish addict that wants nothing to do with the tower but comes to want to see it. Eddie show Roland that maybe theres more to the world other then the tower.
- Odetta Holmes/Detta Walker/Susannah Dean - Susannah comes from New York of 1964. There she is a civil rights activist. She has a split personality from being hit in the head with a brick when she was a child. She also is bound to a wheelchair as she lost her legs from being pushed in front of a train. While Odetta is polite, Detta is curl and tries to kill Eddie and Roland. In the end she becomes one and takes on her middle name as will as the name of her husband, Eddie.
- Jake Chambers - Jake is a 10 year old boy that lived in New York in the year of 1977. He was first killed and reappered in Roland's world. He meet Roland and traveled with him through the events of the first book. He died again under the mountain. When Roland went back in time he stopped Jake from dieing which lead him to return to Roland's world and join them.
- The Crimson King – The Crimson King wants nothing more then to have the tower fall and to see the return of chaos that is Discordia. Using the means of all the worlds the king wants to beak the beams holding the tower in place. Using means such as vampires, lowmen, Terminators, Doombots, and snitches (yes, from the Harry Potter series).
It would seem that in both series they have strong female leads. Roland has a more involved story and Eddie to shows a more developed character then that of Ron. As for the villains I would have to say that Voldemort wins, being that we have a deeper understanding of why he is evil. Not just evil for evils sake.
Tower – 2, Potter – 1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Flow
Harry Potter
The rate in which the story is told. Happy Potter performs well because it pulls a lot on it's back story. With that we the author could make up anything and pull it forward as fact. While in a lot of cases this is lazy writing it is also smart. In no time does it seem that Rowling every abused this power. It was put to good use and the only time it became a shortcoming was during the introduction of the timeturner. But for the most part the story had a solid back story that kept consistent.
The Dark Tower
The Dark Tower was a tell that wasn't all planned out at once. It was thought of one book at a time. With that it remained true to that it was. The only problem is that in the 4th book, Wizard & Glass this is a recap of Roland tells his friends that story of his youth. This is great to get a better understanding of Roland but it pulls you out of what's happening in the current events.
Tower-2, Potter-2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
Well I did not see this coming. I try to stay true by writing while I was thinking about it and to be fair this is what really happened, a draw. So what we have is Harry Potter having Flow and setting. Keeping a steady rate of story with good setting. But pretty much a bunch of fill, if you look at it like that. While we have The Dark Tower. A story that had story and characters. TO be fair King never really cares where he places his stories. (Most of them in Maine.) King works on relationships and how that play out due to the events that are put before them. While it is a draw, I would have to say that The Dark Tower wins. If only because novel are made to tell a story, and the Dark Tower does that. A good comparison with be,
Dark Tower brings the thunder (content), Happy Potter brings the Lighting(appeal).
Comments